‘I oftentimes forget. I forget the good that has happened in my life and focus on what’s hard or undone. I forget that I don’t have to be perfect, and I try do it all. I forget the big picture and instead find myself focused on the narrow list of what feels urgent today.
I forget the way home.
In the thick of it, I want to hold something in my hands that brings me right back to what matters.
I want Grace, Josh, and Sarah to know the way home, long after Ari and I are gone. There’s a pit in my stomach thinking about it because I love them so much, and I don’t want to imagine not being with them. But the truth is I’m going to leave this earth one day. Ari will too. It’s a hard truth to hold in my hands, but it’s potentially the most life-giving seed we can plant, friend. It’s the seed of legacy.
I want to cultivate truth in my children. I want to equip them to plant their own gardens in this world and learn how to thrive God’s way. I want to cultivate a life that is focused on growing what will last longer than I will—not what seems exciting or enticing right this second.’ – from Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide to Growing an Intentional Life
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So, I began doing something that has been surprisingly easy and impactful: Bible journaling with Grace. Now, let me tell you that the whole idea of Bible journaling seemed too scrapbook-y for me. I tried scrapbooking and I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t keep up with it. So, when I saw people posting photos of their colorful Bible pages, I was hesitant. Until I had a life-changing conversation with Illustrated Faith founder, Shanna Noel. She talked about Bible journaling as a way to connect with the Word and worship God with art. She talked about it as a way to plant seeds of legacy.
It all clicked. This was something Grace and I could do together. Our creative brains could run wild in the pages of the life-giving Word! I gave it a try one night. Grace was instantly hooked and so was I.
I have gotten a ton of questions this week about Bible journaling with Grace and how we do it.
Here are a few tips and resources!
– We use the She Reads Truth Bible, which I LOVE. It’s beautifully crafted, thoughtfully designed, and it has great wide margins on pure white paper–a great canvas for Bible journaling!
– We also have a bunch of Illustrated Faith supplies from Dayspring and we use stickers from the Cultivate What Matters sticker book too.
– Having shared those things though, you can use anything! We sometimes just use crayons : )
Photo by Grace : )
We have done it like this so far:
– We start simple. We pick a verse and highlight it. I ask Grace if there’s a verse she wants to do (she might recall a song she learned in Bible class at church or a story we read at bedtime that week) or sometimes I pick one that I highlighted from my own Bible reading that morning.
– I read the verse a few times and talk about what it means in words she can understand. Sometimes we talk about the history behind the verse, and sometimes we talk about life application.
– Then I ask her what “pictures” come to mind when she thinks about the verse so we can begin thinking of what do draw, paint, or put on the page.
– We draw or make those pictures on the page. I really try to follow her lead here with what we create together.
– Lastly, we write either what we’re grateful for that day or comments about the verse and what it means to us. One of us writes the date and that’s it!
– Sometimes I write a little love note to Grace in the margins too. (There’s much more about that in my upcoming book!)
– We leave the pages we journaled open on the kitchen counter to see the next day till we do a new one. We have a stand for our Bible in the kitchen. The one we have isn’t available anymore, but I found this one as a suggestion for you to try.
– An essential tip: make it easy to get your supplies out at the drop of a hat. We have an Illustrated Faith bag in one of the kitchen cabinets that we can easily bring out and easily toss all the supplies back into when we’re done.
Bible journaling with Grace has helped us have meaningful conversations about the Bible while engaging her full attention with a creative activity. One of the best benefits for me, besides having good conversation about God and closeness with Grace, is letting a smaller portion of scripture really sink in. I end up memorizing most of what we journal.
When Grace is older, I’ll give this Bible to her as a gift–as a way to always remember the way Home.
I hope this post has encouraged you to give this a try–whether with kids or yourself. Have you considered Bible journaling? I’d love to hear from you!
To help you get started, I have a great giveaway for you today! Win a She Reads Truth Bible, a copy of my upcoming book, Cultivate (releases June 27th!), a Cultivate What Matters sticker book, Illustrated Faith supplies from Dayspring, and one of our SOLD OUT Write the Word journals (we will have more in stock in August!). Enter below:
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96 Comments
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You always inspire me Lara. I definitely need to start this with my boys today!
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I love this so much! I can’t wait until my daughter is older so we can do this together! Thank you for encouraging and setting this example for other parents!
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I also encouraged my sweet husband! <3
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I love this idea! Been thinking about starting bible journaling.
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Love this idea! Thank you so much for sharing it. I’m sending an encouraging note to my sister.
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This is so great. I want to cultivate God’s truth in my children. I want them to grow up loving Jesus and know what He’s done for them. Bible journaling would be a great tool to do that! My kids loving doing crafts so I think we could have so much fun doing this together. Thanks for sharing!
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Beautiful! I love how you write about a legacy. That has so been on my heart lately.
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These are some great ideas!
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I absolutely love this. I have a six year old daughter who would love this!
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I have been looking to start this with my daughter since I saw your picture of it with Grace. I would love to teach my children the way Home.
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This is so wonderful! I want to do this with my own future children when the time comes. That is a beautiful legacy they’ll carry with them for their entire lives. What a sweet, life giving gesture. 🙂
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I love Bible journaling so much! I love having a colorful Bible and I love being able to see what God has done in my life.
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What an awesome idea!
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I love everything about this – thank you for sharing your ideas ! God has blessed you with such refreshing and meaningful creativity and I praise Him for how He’s used you Lara in my own life. God bless x
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Lara, I just pre-ordered a kindle copy of your new book. I am incredibly excited to dig in and apply the things you have been learning through your journey. I absolutely love this idea of Legacy. I’m expecting my first child in October, and I pray that I will find the space each day to carve out time to spend with him and God – teaching my son the rhythms of grace and the unending love of our Father. Thank you for your ministry.
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Love this blog post. What a sweet way to inspire a hunger for God’s word. What a treasure. I always enjoy my Bible Study time with my sons. It keeps me accountable and we all get to share our thoughts.
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I love this! Followed your IG Stories about this. Interested to see if my boys feel as enthusiastic about this as I am 🙂
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Love this! Really wanting to start doing this with my boys this summer!
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I would love to know what Bible reading plan you use for your own Bible reading? You’ve mentioned a chronological Bible before, but I’m looking for a good solid plan, that won’t just have me bouncing around all over the place. Thanks!
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Yes, search “my number one goal” in the blog sidebar and you’ll find my post with all the details! : )
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Thank you so much for this post Lara! It is so helpful! I am not very creative, but my 3 year old daughter loves art, so think this would be an amazing God-glorifying activity to do with her. Thanks for the tips and supply suggestions!
I want to use this to cultivate my faith- using bible journaling to connect with God through my head and heart!
Also, I text my friend that I love and am praying for her. 🙂 -
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Lara: do you recommend any particular products from Dayspring? There are so many to choose from!
Thanks so much for this giveaway! I hope I win! -
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I want to cultivate my faith for my littles. I want to share it with them.
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Such a great idea to Bible journal with kids!
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Thank you for this awesome giveaway! I love the idea of planting scripture into little ones through Bible journaling!
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I love this idea so much…. I journal bible but didn’t give it thought for my kids! They are visual learners and we love to create art together! <3
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What a beautiful idea! I have a baby girl and can picture doing this with her someday!
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Lara, I absolutely love this! I’ve wanted to try Bible journaling for some time but was nervous about focusing more on making my words look pretty than His Word. Seeing this perspective, I have been so encouraged to try Bible journaling as I seek to spend daily time with Him and cultivate my relationship with Him.
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This is so beautiful! I love how you and Grace use your creativity to connect with and worship the Lord!
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I sent a friend a text to encourage her to get her grad school homework done well!
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I love the pictures of Gracie’s handwriting and art work! I can think of a few creative kids from my church that would LOVE Bible journaling with their parents!
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LOVE this idea and definitely doing this with my daughter!
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Love this! Thanks for sharing!
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during this summer I would like to strive to wake up early before my kids and reflect on the scriptures for the day.
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Thank you for this post. It was very inspiring. I would love to cultivate a legacy with my daughter. I am going to look into purchasing one of these SRT bibles. My daughter is only 9 months old now, but I am really looking forward to watching what the LORD does in her life.
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I’d like to continue cultivating more prayer into my life – really falling in love with it 🙂
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This is so great! I am tucking this one away to do with my future children!
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I had a conversation with a coworker who is pretty anxious about some upcoming projects and thanked her for her involvement in our work!
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Oh how beautiful! What a treasure for Grace to have when she grows up! I have been working through Cultivate Faith and sharing the verses with my husband so that we both get to meditate on the same verses during the day. We’ve also been reading “Alive in Him” by Gloria Furman together – we had the joy of hearing her speak on Ephesians and her book really expands on the topic and absolutely makes my heart rejoice!
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I love the legacy piece of this idea, and the fact that we can be parents who–little by little!–lead our kids in walking with God through his Word.
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I was inspired by your ig stories and do something similar now with my write the word journal 🙂
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Daily conversations and reading of the Bible.
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I am cultivating my faith this year by reading books that I wouldn’t normally gravitate to…things that challenge and strengthen my beliefs!
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Love this! I have recently started drawing/doodling in my Bible and have really enjoyed the benefits of it. Using it as a legacy for my daughter though is powerful and makes it even more useful.
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Oh, I would just love to do this with my 6 year old!
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I love this! Anyone have a great boys bible recommendation ??
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I’m wondering the same! I think there are more “generic” (aka – less girly) journaling Bibles. I’m going to begin compiling the sets to give to my boys for Christmas. They are headed into 2 & 4th grade, and both love to create things. I want to do this before they loose interest in an art project with mom 🙂
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Great question! Yes, SRT has a Navy blue version I’m considering getting for Josh.
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So beautfiul!
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What a great idea! Would love to win this so I can start doing this with my daughter.
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You are such an inspiration to me. I am so grateful to have your light. I am doing this with my boys!
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What an encouragement you are to us all! Thank you for inspiring me to be in God’s word more.
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I am never sure how much my son gets from what I read to him from the Bible. This is a good way to focus and prompt more discussion.
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Love all of this! Makes me excited at the idea of having a little girl to do this with one day!
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This is such an encouragement. I used to write in my Bible and underline scriptures when I was younger, but as I grew up I preferred it to be neat, clean and tidy. This is a reminder to connect to God by writing and being messy.
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I love this and have slowly started doing this with my oldest son. I would love if illustrated faith created kid sets that had kids Bibles. When I looked last summer, I couldn’t find any. Nevertheless, I don’t need special supplies to have this special time with m y sons. I can’t wait to continue doing this with my other sons.
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Lara this is so beautiful!! And what a a great idea! I am going through the SRT Romans study book right now and I love it! What an amazing way to stay in the word every day.
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What a beautiful way to share God’s word with our children. Little ones LOVE art supplies! This is a stretch for me (messy stuff), but I think I might begin to put this together as a Christmas present for both of my boys 🙂
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As a side effect of a role at my church, I get to work (remotely) with a very good friend of mine – our Tuesdays, like today, always start with a catch up on tasks and turn into us just chatting about life and getting the chance to encourage each other!
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I have two daughters & I would love love to do this with them!! It plants truth in their heart, let’s them be creative & sweet mother/daughter time.
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What a beautiful idea! Not only will this help cultivate my daughter’s faith, but don’t this with her and seeing her grow in faith will help me cultivate mine.
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Prayer is the biggest way I cultivate my faith. I currently don’t have a home church, so getting deep into prayer really makes me feel connected with God.
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I was just gifted a She Reads Truth Bible for my birthday. I was so surprised and thankful. I love this idea of bible journaling. Just need to get over the “don’t want to mess it up” first child/perfection issues. (Finished not Perfect Right?) Reading the letter you wrote to Grace brought tears to my eyes. You’re a really good Mom. Thanks for modeling that for us. Blessings!
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I encouraged my friend today by emailing her. She’s facing some infertility issues and has been having a really difficult time.
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This is incredible! I’ve always said when my husband and I have children that I am going to get each of them a journaling bible when they are born and write in it for them until they are 18 when I will give it to them on their birthday! 🙂 I’ve been bible-journaling for quite awhile now, but not drawing pictures or painting. I just take notes and write out my prayers!
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I love this!!!! This gives me encouragement and a great starting point for journaling in my bible. Plus with a baby on the way, it give me so much joy to know I can do this with them when they’re old enough!
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What a beautiful example you have set for my daughter and I! Lara, thank you for all that you do!
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Love this idea! My daughter is grown but I still believe this is something that we could plan to do together and pass on once she is married or has children of her own. Thanks!
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Yes, I love that idea–it’s never too late! : )
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This is so Awesome, thanks for sharing!
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You really inspire me and I would love to find a way to get closer to Him in my daily life. This is beautiful.
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this is so helpful with great ideas to connect the Word in a meaningful way to our little people 🙂
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My five year old would love this!
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Just encouraged a friend who wasn’t feeling good by sending her a get well soon text. 🙂
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I had the joy of telling a sweet friend that her upcoming baby shower is so big we had to move it out of my house and to a bigger venue! It’s so wonderful to see the love being poured out for her!
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This a beautiful giveaway! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to win all of these things. xoxoxo
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<3
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Every morning we have the opportunity to be happy and content with what we have. We also have the opportunity to grow in faith and be an example of our God’s undying love for one another. This giveaway is one of those times where I am thankful for Lara and her devotion for showing God’s love and faith to us as readers. Thank you for the encouragement and opportunity to enter in to win one of these great pieces to help with our daily mission (if we choose to accept it ;)).
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I am really becoming closer to the Lord. My health has been horrible for the past few years. All I have right now is Jesus. I can’t pay my medical bills or get a job due to being sick. The struggle is unreal, but I’m still thankful for all the Lord has given me. Your book has changed my life. Thank you, Laura!
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Lara*.. Silly autocorrect!
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This is an awesome way to really deepen the legacy of faith with children!
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I sent a friend an encouraging note about never giving up despite hard moments.
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This is a wonderful idea! Thank you so much for the tips and encouragement!
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I love this. I need to start doing this with my teenagers…. how cool!
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I love the idea and the simplicity of bible journaling. I do not enjoy scrap booking, but I see huge benefits to making a bible verse visual and taking time to ponder the meaning and application. Turning it into a journal is also amazing. Most importantly it personaluzes God’s word and creates a book with multiple reasons to turn to for direction. I am so excited to start our own version of this. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
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I love this! Thank you so much for sharing Lara! Bible journaling can feel so overwhelming bc of seeking perfectionism, but thank you for the reminder that no perfection is required- I just need to start! 🙂
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This is such a beautiful idea. My oldest son just got his first bible story book and is LOVING it. I think this might just be our next project.
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I think the idea of a Bible for journaling is an interesting idea, especially for developing a legacy with children. What a gift to look back on time spent as a mother and daughter and being able to read special notes that a mother wrote in the margins to her daughter. This will be a gift for Grace to treasure!
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Love this hands on way of worship!
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I would love to win a copy of your new book and the She Reads Truth. Bible!
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Yay! Thank you for all your encouraging words!
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I love the idea of bible journaling with my daughter in this format. I would love to win this giveaway!
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After many years of focusing on so many things, something unexpected and life changing happened to our family late last year that brought us full circle. We would like to focus on this more in the coming year.
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i love the way you write about legacy– this has also been on my heart. what a great idea to journal with my daughter!
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Love this!
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I love this idea!! My kids are still 4 and under but maybe in the next year or two?